This Week in Potomac 6-15-05

State Sen. Rob Garagiola (D-15) has been named the Senate chairman of the Joint Committee on Children, Youth and Families.

Garagiola said that the committee's first hearing will be on group homes, in response to recent reports concerning the lack of adequate oversight of group homes, which provide care for nearly 3,000 children in the child welfare, juvenile services and mental health systems.

Garagiola also set protecting the Office of Children Youth and Families as a priority for the committee. The statutory provisions authorizing the office are currently set to expire June 30.

Garagiola will be the presiding chair of the committee this year. The House and Senate chairs alternate as presiding chairs each year.

CURE AUTISM NOW RUN

The fifth annual five kilometer run and family fun walk in Potomac takes place Monday, July 4, beginning next to the Potomac Library. The race benefits Cure Autism Now. The 5K road race starts 8 a.m.; 1-mile walk starts 8:05 a.m.

When the first CAN 5K took place in Potomac five years ago, one in 500 children was diagnosed with autism. Now there are one in 150 children diagnosed with autism. Improved diagnostic methods account for part of this increase, but not all of it. “This is a national epidemic,” said race organizer Susan Pereles.

To register or donate or for more information visit www.canrun.org.

LOCAL ARTISTS SELECTED FOR PRIZE

Two Potomac residents were among 32 area artists selected as semi-finalists for The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, a juried art competition produced by the Bethesda Arts and Entertainment District.

Christopher Saah and Diane Szczepaniak of Potomac are among the 32 selected from nearly 400 artists from Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. The semi-finalists have been asked to submit additional slides of their work, reviews, biographies, artist statements and press articles. The jury will review these items and select up to 15 finalists who will be invited to display their work Sept. 6-30 at Creative Partners Gallery in Bethesda. The top four winners will share $14,000 in prize money.

The jury includes Olga Viso, director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Andrea Pollan, an independent curator; and Dr. Thom Collins, executive director of the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore.

For more information on the competition, contact the Bethesda Urban Partnership at 301-215-6660.

PADDLE FOR CONSERVATION

Registration is open for the fourth annual Potomac Sojourn, a week-long canoeing and kayaking expedition with visits to important sites along the river, shoreline camping, ecological restoration projects, festive meals, meetings with elected officials, and more.

The Sojourn is co-sponsored by the Interstate Commission on the Potomac and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to boost awareness of the Potomac River’s importance to the region and encourage residents to play an active role in its restoration. Novice and experienced paddlers are welcome to join, and may sign up for all or part of the trip.

The trip begins July 9 in Shepherdstown, W.Va. and ends in Great Falls, Va. with planned stops at White’s Ferry and Pennyfield Lock in Montgomery County.

For more information and registration, visit www.acb-online.org/project.cfm?vid=241.

FATHER'S DAY PHOTOS

In an Almanac tradition, readers are invited to send in photos of fathers with children, grandfathers with grandchildren and multi-generational photos. The Almanac will print as many photos as possible in the week before and after Father’s Day.

E-mailed photos are best. Be sure to include text that identifies every person in the photograph and their ages if possible, tells when, where and what’s happening, and includes town of residence. A few words or a sentence or two on what your father means to you are always welcome.

You can also mail in a print, being sure to include the same information. If you include a self-addressed-stamped envelope, we will do our best to send the print back to you, but please do not send us any irreplaceable photographs.

Emilie Kimball, a 15-year-old National Cathedral School student from Potomac, is seeking used laptops to be donated to Women in Progress, an international volunteer organization that helps women in West Africa.

Emilie will take the laptops with her when she travels to Ghana June 19, where, as Women in Progress intern, she will aid local women who wish to become self-sufficient by starting a business.

Most of the women sell handmade clothing through the Internet, and will use the computers to contact customers worldwide and keep business records.

The organization accepts almost any type of laptop, although it prefers computers that can run Windows 2000 or Windows XP — generally at least a Pentium II with 128 kb RAM. Virus protection software and Microsoft Office software are also helpful.

To donate a tax-deductible used laptop, or for more information, contact Emilie at 301-299-1133 or at pkimball@kimbal.com To learn more about Women in Progress visit www.womeninprogress.org.